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With the global trend of e-commerce, companies pursue a higher quality of parcel delivery service since customers expect faster transportation in this fast-paced society. Several of them are committed to improving the efficiency of logistics and reducing operating costs and increasing their market competitiveness in the industry. The parcel distribution center thus plays a critical role in parcel delivery industries to sort and consolidate parcel flows to full truckloads. The benefit of the strategy is significant such as reducing transfer time and related costs. On the other hand, an automated sorting system (ASS) is also highly used in many supply chains with impressive characteristics like fast operation speed, large capacity, high reliability. The goal of this research is to apply the scheduling method to reduce the sorting time in an automated sorting system to improve distribution efficiency. This study focuses on the truck scheduling problem with fixed outbound schedules in a closed-loop conveyor system with shortcuts. The objective is to minimize the costs of extra trucks used to deliver delayed parcels and holding cost of parcels at each shipping dock door. If a parcel fails to be loaded onto the pre-determined outbound trucks, an extra outbound truck will be used to deliver the parcel. The problem is modeled with a mixed integer nonlinear programming model. This problem is proven to be NP-hard in the strong sense. As a result, an adaptive genetic algorithm with local search (LSAGA) is developed to solve the problem under twelve scenarios and compared with other algorithms, and a full factorial design of experiment was conducted. The computational experiments show that four factors, layout, inbound truck, outbound truck, and algorithm are significant to the objective value, and the proposed algorithm can obtain high-quality solutions with more stability. A sensitivity analysis is also conducted and bring some managerial insights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pos Indonesia faces challenges in improving courier service business processes due to business change trends. This study aims to identify and analyze inefficiencies in the middle mile supply chain business process of PT Pos Indonesia Processing Centre Surabaya and determine the number of robotic mega bots needed to improve efficiency. The research method uses quantitative information, observations, interviews, computer simulations, Value Stream Mapping process flow charts, and Business Process Reengineering concepts. The results showed that the use of mega bot robots had a positive and significant impact on the company's reputation, and the sorting process carried out using robotic mega bots was appropriate because it had a significant impact on the effectiveness and efficiency of business process improvements at PT Pos Indonesia (Persero). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary goal of this research is to identify which factors most significantly influence customer satisfaction in the last-mile delivery (LMD) process. The sample comprised 907 participants (63.4% female) with a mean age of 34.90. All participants completed three questionnaires regarding LMD, customer satisfaction, and trust in courier service. Furthermore, participants answered questions related to significant aspects of the delivery process: speed, price, and courier call before delivery. To determine which factors most significantly influence customer satisfaction in LMD, structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied. The tested SEM model showed a good fit. The results indicated that within the LMD dimension, visual appeal was a significant predictor in a negative direction, and all other LMD dimensions (except parcel tracking) were positive and significant predictors of customer satisfaction. Trust in courier service, delivery price, speed, and courier call before delivery were statistically significant predictors of customer satisfaction in last-mile delivery, all in a positive direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing number of local shops offer same-day delivery in order to compete with the online giants. However, the distribution of parcels from individual shops to customers reduces the rare consolidation opportunities in the last mile even further. Thus, shops start collaborating on urban same-day delivery by using shared vehicles and micro-depots for consolidated transportation of parcels. At this, many stakeholders (storekeepers, drivers, and customers) need to be coordinated. Consistent routes between micro-hubs simplify the distribution process and increase reliability for all stakeholders involved. The shared vehicles thus conduct consistent daily routes between micro-hubs in the city, serving as transshipment and consolidation centres. This allows stores to bring orders to the next micro-hub, where the parcel is picked up by a vehicle and delivered to the micro-hub closest to its destination—if it is feasible with respect to the vehicle's consistent daily schedule. Creating effective schedules is therefore very important. The difficulty of finding an effective consistent route is amplified by the daily uncertainty in order placements. We model the problem as a two-stage stochastic program. While the first stage determines the vehicle schedules, the second stage optimises the flow of realised orders. The goal is to satisfy as many orders per day as possible with the shared vehicles. We propose a time-expanded network formulation of the problem which is solved to optimality using commercial MIP-software. We assess our model against a non-consistent upper bound and a practically-inspired heuristic to evaluate the cost of consistency and the consolidation of goods. We analyse the performance of our method for a variety of instance settings. We observe that collaborative delivery via micro-hubs is worthwhile for delivery time promises of two hours or more. Noticeably, for these service promises, the costs of consistency are surprisingly low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider a service provider performing pre-planned service for initially known customers with a fleet of vehicles, e.g., parcel delivery. During execution, new dynamic service requests occur, e.g., for parcel pickup. The goal of the service provider is to serve as many dynamic requests as possible while ensuring service of all initial customers. The allocation of initial services impacts the potential of serving dynamic requests. An allocation aiming on a time-efficient initial routing leads to minimal overall workload regarding the initial solution but may congest some vehicles that are unable to serve additional requests along their routes. An even workload division is less efficient but grants all vehicles flexibility for additional services. In this paper, we investigate the balance between efficiency and flexibility. For the initial customers, we modify a routing algorithm to allow a shift between efficient initial routing and evenly balanced workloads. For effective dynamic decision making with respect to the dynamic requests, we present value function approximations with different feature sets capturing vehicle workload in different levels of detail. We show that sacrificing some initial routing efficiency in favor of a balanced vehicle workload is a key factor for a flexible integration of later customer requests that leads to an average improvement of 10.75%. Further, we show when explicitly depicting heterogeneity in the vehicle workload by features of the value function approximation provides benefits and that the best choice of features leads to an average improvement of 5.71% compared to the worst feature choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To make the last mile of parcel delivery more efficient, service providers offer an increasing number of modes of delivery as alternatives to the traditional and often cost-intensive home delivery service. Parcel lockers and pickup stations can be utilized to reduce the number of stops and avoid costly detours. To design smart delivery networks, service providers must evaluate different business models. In this context, a multitrip vehicle routing problem with delivery options and location-dependent costs arises. We present a data-driven framework to evaluate alternative delivery strategies, formulate a corresponding model and solve the problem heuristically using adaptive large neighborhood search. By examining large, real-life instances from a major European parcel service, we determine the potential and benefits of different delivery options. Specifically, we show that delivery costs can be mitigated by consolidating orders in pickup stations and illustrate how pricing can be applied to steer customer demand toward profitable, eco-friendly products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Warehouses recently face increasing stress imposed by a volatile customer demand and increasing customer expectations in terms of ever shorter order response times. In that respect, warehouses more and more offer same-day and next-day shipment conditions. However, same-day shipment promises are challenging to fulfil, especially as the order fulfilment process operates against fixed deadlines imposed by the predefined truck departure times. As a natural mitigation strategy, warehouses set a cutoff point and offer same-day shipment only to customers that order until the cutoff point, but next-day shipment to all customers ordering thereafter. Setting an appropriate cutoff point is challenging as it affects multiple facets of the service quality, such as the order response time and the service level. In this paper, we study the design of cutoff-based shipment promises for stochastic deadline-oriented order fulfilment processes in warehouses. We present a discrete-time Markov chain model for exact steady-state performance analysis and propose two novel performance measures – α - and β - cutoff service level – for service level measurement in these systems. We numerically show the benefit of cutoff-based shipment promises. Even with a late cutoff point, there is a significant gain in the system performance. Furthermore, we find that warehouses should set the cutoff point such that it balances customer expectations in terms of service level and order response time. Finally, warehouses can improve their shipment promises when referring to β - instead of α - cutoff service level and by implementing measures reducing the utilisation and the variabilities of the order fulfilment process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examines the holistic impact of digital marketing strategies on fast delivery in Nigeria. A descriptive survey research design was utilized and a sample size of one hundred and forty-four was used. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics with the help of the IBM-SPSS version 27. The result found that content marketing significantly and independently predicts fast courier services (ß = .61, t = 9.12, p<.05). The result also found that search engine optimization significantly and independently predicts fast courier services (ß = .48, t = 6.58, p<.05). The result also found that email marketing significantly and independently predicts fast courier services (ß = .17, t = 2.09, p<.05). Finally, there was significant joint prediction of content marketing, search engine optimization and email marketing on job performance F (3,140) = 32.44, R2 = 0.41; p<.05). These results demonstrate how technological advancements and digital marketing has potentially and completely transform courier services and fast delivery of courier services in Nigeria, providing numerous chances for companies to improve their delivery capacities and clientele. In the context of fast delivery services of courier service in Nigeria, the paper work out the impact of new technology on the transformative potential of digital marketing strategies through the technological innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are required to pass through multiple important waypoints as quickly as possible in courier delivery, enemy reconnaissance and other tasks to eventually reach the target position. There are two important problems to be solved in such tasks: constraining the trajectory to pass through intermediate waypoints and optimizing the flight time between these waypoints. A constrained parameterized differential dynamic programming (C-PDDP) algorithm is proposed for meeting multiple waypoint constraints and free-time constraints between waypoints to deal with these two issues. By considering the intermediate waypoint constraints as a kind of path state constraint, the penalty function method is adopted to constrain the trajectory to pass through the waypoints. For the free-time constraints, the flight times between waypoints are converted into time-invariant parameters and updated at the trajectory instants corresponding to the waypoints. The effectiveness of the proposed C-PDDP algorithm under waypoint constraints and free-time constraints is verified through numerical simulations of the UAV multi-point reconnaissance problem with five different waypoints. After comparing the proposed algorithm with fixed-time constrained DDP (C-DDP), it is found that C-PDDP can optimize the flight time of the trajectory with three segments to 7.35 s, 9.50 s and 6.71 s, respectively. In addition, the maximum error of the optimized trajectory waypoints of the C-PDDP algorithm is 1.06 m, which is much smaller than that (7 m) of the C-DDP algorithm used for comparison. A total of 500 Monte Carlo tests were simulated to demonstrate how the proposed algorithm remains robust to random initial guesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent growth of the e-commerce sector—especially during and after the COVID-19 pandemic—has led to the expansion of the Courier, Express and Parcel (CEP) market. To remain competitive, courier companies had to adjust their business models to meet not only high demand but also customer expectations. The aim of this work is to assess the quality of courier services in the Republic of Serbia from the customers’ perspective. The relevant data was obtained via an electronic survey, which was informed by a comprehensive literature review. The online questionnaire was distributed via social networks (Facebook and Viber) in February 2023 and the subsequent statistical analyses revealed that, in the Republic of Serbia, satisfaction with courier delivery services is affected by the use frequency, customer characteristics (employment status, level of concern regarding personal data security) as well as the courier service characteristics (e.g. responsiveness, timeliness, delivery status, payment options). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes the assessment of the impacts of using electric vehicles for urban service trips. In particular, the focus is on trips performed for delivering and installing products, as well as for reverse logistics. Such components of commercial traffic in urban areas have not received the level of attention it deserves. In fact, recent research on commercial traffic mainly deals with shop restocking, service visits to establishments and e-commerce deliveries, and limited attention has been paid to the service sector (e.g., installation, maintenance, repairs) which can have a high impact on city sustainability in terms of pollution emissions, congestion as well as land use for parking. Furthermore, pushed by the current trend towards the promotion of electric vehicles, an assessment is developed comparing potential service patterns using real data from the inner area of Rome (Italy) when the electric fleet replaces the traditional one. Results show the opportunity to decouple the delivery operation from the installation one, and to integrate service with reverse logistics. These significant results could address the adoption of suitable integrated urban policies to make the most of the opportunities arising from the use of electric vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We employ mobile network data referred to the area of Lombardy in Italy to investigate alternative touristic behaviours, such as same-day visits and overnight stays in Italy. We show that larger availability of tourism accommodations, cultural and natural endowments are relevant factors explaining overnight stays. Conversely, temporary entertainment and transportation facilities increase municipalities attractiveness for same-day visits. The results also highlight a trade-off in the capability of municipalities of being attractive in connection to both the tourism behaviours. For instance, higher tourists arrivals are observed in areas receiving limited visitors, coming from municipalities with low same-day visits outflows. We highlight mobile data offer an adequate level of spatial and temporal granularity and can be thus employed to support policy makers in the design of effective tourist management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel route optimization framework to solve the problem of instant pick-up and delivery for e-grocery orders. The proposed framework extends the traditional time-windowed package delivery problem. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach for this integrated problem using actual delivery data from HepsiJet, a leading e-commerce logistics provider in Turkey. We first employ several machine learning algorithms and simulations to investigate the capacity of the courier. Subsequently, a dynamic route planning workflow is executed with a highly specialized and novel routing algorithm. Our proposed heuristic approach considers combined fleet operations for delivering regular packages originating from a central depot and dynamic e-grocery orders picked up at local supermarkets and delivered to the customers. The heuristic algorithm constitutes k-opt and node transfer operation variations customized for this integrated problem. We report the performance of our approach in problem instances from the literature and instances from HepsiJet's daily operations, which we also publicly share as new route optimization problem instances. Our results suggest that, despite the more complex nature of the integrated problem, our proposed algorithm and solution framework produce more efficient and cost-effective solutions that offer additional business opportunities for companies such as HepsiJet. The computational analyses reveal that implementing our proposed approach yields significant efficiency gains and cost reductions for the company, with a distance reduction of over 30%, underscoring our approach's effectiveness in achieving substantial cost savings and enhanced efficiency through integrating two distinct delivery operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was conducted in a dry fish market (Saidpur City dry fish market) in northern Bangladesh from January 2023 to June 2023 to evaluate the marketing status, price variation of available dry fish species, and livelihood status of dry fish traders. A mixed-methods approach was used in this research, utilizing both qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys. Findings revealed that there were 17 different types of dry fish along with 5 types of semi-fermented and salted fish products in the market. The average price of dry fish in the market ranged from 3.67 to 4.59 USD/kg. Surma was the most expensive fish available in the Saidpur city dry fish market (4.59-9.17 USD/kg) while Baspata was the cheapest. The livelihood status of dry fish traders was found to be closely linked to market conditions. Their income levels varied significantly depending on the location and size of the market. It was found that 48% of the traders earned 1.83 to 4.59 USD/day, while 44% of retailers earned 4.59 to 9.17 USD per day. Only 8% of the traders had a daily income above 9.17 USD. In the present study, it was observed that 62% of retailers did not take any loans, while others borrowed from banks and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). About 58.33% of retailers did not have any alternative source of income and more than 50% of dry fish traders could not pass the primary level of education. This study identified both opportunities and challenges for the dry fish market. The major constraints faced by dry fish traders were a lack of credit facilities followed by high transportation costs and inadequate storage facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To increase the efficiency of last-mile delivery, online retailers can adopt pickup points in their operations. The retailer may then incentivize customers to steer them from home to pickup point delivery to reduce costs. However, it is usually uncertain whether the customer accepts this incentive to switch to pickup delivery. This setup gives rise to a new last-mile delivery problem with integrated incentive and routing decisions under uncertainty. We model this problem as a two-stage stochastic program with decision-dependent uncertainty. In the first stage, a retailer decides which customers to incentivize. However, customers' reaction to the incentive is stochastic: they may accept the offer and switch to pickup point delivery, or they may decline the offer and stick with home delivery. In the second stage, after customers' final delivery choices are revealed, a vehicle route is planned to serve customers via the delivery option of their choice. We develop an exact branch-and-bound algorithm and propose several heuristics to improve the algorithm's scalability. Our algorithm solves instances with up to 50 customers, realizing on average 4%–8% lower last-mile delivery costs compared with the commonly applied approaches in the industry that do not use incentives or offer incentives to all customers. We also develop a benchmark policy that gives very fast solutions with a 2% average optimality gap for small instances and up to 2% average cost increase compared with the heuristic solutions. Funding: This project received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement [Grant 765395]. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/trsc.2023.0287. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study delves into the sentiment analysis of courier services in Malaysia through the lens of tweets. With the escalating reliance on courier services for daily parcel deliveries, understanding public sentiment becomes imperative. Through a systematic methodology encompassing data gathering, preparation, alteration, analysis, modeling, and deployment, this study aims to furnish valuable insights and recommendations. A dynamic graphical representation of sentiment scores is presented for intuitive interpretation and informed decision-making. The study's significance lies in empowering Malaysians to make judicious choices regarding courier services, thereby fostering transparency in the industry. The study proposes several avenues for future enhancements, including the integration of autocorrect features, diversifying data sources and languages, incorporating deep learning techniques, and developing a user-friendly interface for enhanced visualization. This study serves as a guiding resource, illuminating sentiments surrounding courier services in Malaysia and paving the way for future advancements in sentiment analysis within this domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Omni-channel shopping affords consumers a variety of delivery options to receive products based on their preferred times and locations. By considering consumers' contributions (physical, social and attentive efforts) in co-creating delivery services, this study investigates their preferences for parcel delivery. Design/methodology/approach: A scenario-based questionnaire survey is conducted for data collection in Singapore (n = 483). Furthermore, a multinomial logistic regression is performed to assess consumers' choice mode of delivery among five alternatives, that is attended home delivery, unattended home delivery, automated self-collection locker, attended pickup point and click-and-collect. Findings: Compared to attended home delivery, consumers who choose the alternatives are found to be more willing to contribute physical effort but less interested in responding attentively to informational updates. Efforts required for social interactions discourage consumers from choosing attended deliveries, prompting unattended alternatives (e.g. home delivery and self-collection) as more attractive choices. Additionally, socio-demographic factors and product value also influence consumers' preferences. Originality/value: This study contributes to the literature by integrating the theoretical concept of consumer logistics into omni-channel studies, providing a new approach to examining consumers' channel behaviour. With detailed profiling that links product value and consumers' socio-demographics to their choice mode of delivery, the authors create practical insight into the optimal design of omni-channel distribution systems that best harness consumers' voluntary contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of the publication is to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the courier services market (CEP) in Poland. The research focuses on identifying the main players in the market, understanding their operating strategies and assessing the impact of innovative solutions on the market. In addition, the aim is to examine the competitive advantages of companies against the background of customer satisfaction levels, the way courier services are delivered, and to analyse innovations in logistics. Design/methodology/approach: The surveys were conducted in three stages in 2020, 2021, and 2022/2023 in the Bydgoszcz metropolitan area. Conducting the surveys in three stages in different years made it possible to analyse changes over time and the mixed methodology using both online (CAWI) and face-to-face (PAPI) surveys allowed us to reach a wider group of respondents. Findings: Pandemic COVID-19 has increased the use of courier services. The current market leader is InPost and the high level of customer satisfaction is due to innovative parcel machines, speed of delivery and convenience of tracking parcels. Research shows that courier company customers value timeliness, efficiency and modern solutions such as parcel machines, which is an important area for courier companies to focus on in their quest for customer satisfaction and loyalty. Research limitations/implications: The results of the study are not representative, but they may be a contribution to a broader and more in-depth analysis of the KEP market and the level of customer satisfaction of courier companies. The limitations of the study include the limited geographical area (Bydgoszcz conurbation) and the small representativeness of the sample, which may affect the generalisation of the results. Research conducted on a larger scale, taking into account different regions of Poland, would provide a more complete picture of the courier services market. Practical implications: The increase in the use of courier services during the pandemic indicates changes in shopping behaviour. It was also found that older people are less likely to use courier services for online purchases, suggesting the need to educate and adapt offers to this customer group. Courier companies should therefore focus on improving service quality, offering innovative delivery solutions, adapting to changing customer preferences and responding flexibly to changing market conditions. Originality/value: The article provides information that can be used to make strategic decisions, tailor services to meet customer needs, increase the company's competitiveness in the CEP market, and build a strong reputation based on actual customer preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing concerns about the climate change have forced governments to initiate tighter environmental regulations and tougher emission reduction targets, increasing the interest on electromobility. Logistics operators started employing electric vehicles (EVs) and must face new operational planning challenges. Moreover, with an ever-growing interest in e-commerce, parcel delivery is taking new shapes by offering flexible delivery options to the customers. To mitigate these issues, we introduce the Electric Vehicle Routing Problem with Flexible Deliveries (EVRP-FD), where the customers are served using a fleet of EVs that can recharge their batteries along their routes. In this problem, a customer may specify different delivery locations for different time windows. Our objective is to serve the customers while minimising the total travelled distance using minimum number of vehicles. We first give the mathematical model and then develop a hybrid Variable Neighbourhood Search coupled with Tabu Search by proposing new mechanisms to solve the problem effectively. Then, we verify the performance of our algorithm on instances from the literature. We also introduce new instances for the EVRP-FD and perform an extensive computational study to investigate the trade-offs associated with different operational factors. Finally, we present a case study in Nottingham, UK to provide further insights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Variation in alcohol availability is an important driver of levels of consumption and harm, with recent increases in online alcohol home delivery use expanding availability. There is limited research on the impacts of these changes and the characteristics of consumers who use alcohol home delivery. Methods: This study presents findings from an online survey (n = 465) of Western Australian adults who had purchased alcohol for home delivery within the past 6 months. Analyses compared high‐risk and low‐risk drinkers on use of, and exposure to, alcohol home delivery. Results: Compared to low‐risk drinkers, high‐risk drinkers were significantly more likely to make more frequent online purchases (odds ratio 5.42), utilise same day delivery (odds ratio 2.91) and purchase through specialised online‐only retailers (odds ratio 2.69). High‐risk drinkers also reported receiving deliveries while intoxicated more often (odds ratio 11.62), and ordering alcohol for delivery to continue a current drinking session (odds ratio 7.47). High‐risk drinkers also received advertising for alcohol home delivery more frequently (odds ratio 1.60) than low‐risk drinkers. High‐risk drinkers also ordered larger quantities of alcohol than low‐risk drinkers (M = 49 vs. 32 standard drinks). Discussion and Conclusions: Findings from this study indicate that these services are popular with high‐risk drinkers and potentially undermine other policy efforts to reduce drinking. Within Australia, stronger legislation (such as mandatory delay between order and delivery) and monitoring (e.g., test purchasing for compliance) are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rising e-commerce trend with Covid-19 pandemic has significantly increased the need for motorcycle-couriers. The aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between job satisfaction and occupational safety and health (OSH) of motorcycle-couriers and to evaluate the opinions of OSH specialists about the importance of motorcycle-couriers' life satisfaction and OSH perception levels. The relationship between life satisfaction and perception of OSH of 750 motorcycle-couriers was addressed using quantitative research methods through two different scales (Life Satisfaction Scale and Occupational Safety Perception Scale). The views of 20 OSH specialists about the importance of motorcycle-couriers' perception of life satisfaction and OSH levels were addressed using qualitative research methods. There was a negative linear relationship between perception of OSH and life satisfaction levels of motorcycle-couriers. All OSH specialists evaluated the level of life satisfaction as an important factor in OSH practice of motorcycle-couriers and all were of the opinion that the job was quite risky and adequate OSH measures were not sufficiently guaranteed. The findings suggest that there is a need for some legal regulation of this occupation and ensuring necessary occupational standards are applied. This could include increased responsibility of companies/employers and could provide training programs to improve OSH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Service continuity (SC) plays an important role in service industry. In this paper, a daily home parcel pick‐up scheduling and routing problem is studied with SC consideration. In this context, a fixed group of couriers is assigned to provide services exclusively within a specific region. Each day, customers within this region either have pre‐scheduled services in advance or stochastically make service requests during the couriers' shifts. Pre‐scheduled service request can be serviced by any courier serving the region, while stochastic service request can only be serviced by the courier most familiar with the corresponding customer. Consequently, the study problem is divided into two distinct sub‐problems: (i) the allocation of pre‐scheduled requests to couriers before their tours start and (ii) routing each courier independently to service both its allocated customers and its potential stochastic customers. The sub‐problem (ii) is formulated as a Markov decision process and an existing dynamic programming method is applied to solve it exactly. For the sub‐problem (i), Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure‐based meta‐heuristics is proposed. Finally, these meta‐heuristics are evaluated through computational experiments, yielding valuable application insights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online e-commerce giants are continuously investigating innovative ways to improve their practices in last-mile deliveries. Inspired by the current practices at JD.com (the largest online retailer by revenue in China), we investigate a delivery problem that we call the traveling salesman problem with bike and robot (TSPBR), where a cargo bike is aided by a self-driving robot to deliver parcels to customers in urban areas. We present two mixed-integer linear programming models and describe a set of valid inequalities to strengthen their linear relaxation. We show that these models can yield optimal solutions of TSPBR instances with up to 60 nodes. To efficiently find heuristic solutions, we also present a genetic algorithm based on a dynamic programming recursion that efficiently explores large neighborhoods. We computationally assess this genetic algorithm on instances provided by JD.com and show that high-quality solutions can be found in a few minutes of computing time. Finally, we provide some managerial insights to assess the impact of deploying the bike-and-robot tandem to deliver parcels in the TSPBR setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores change in the mobile geographies of bicycle courier work as a result of platform economy influences, with a focus on how agency of movement characteristic of messenger culture is maintained or altered through the use of algorithmic routing and management of the delivery process. A mixed-methods approach based in Amsterdam and Oslo uses participatory geographic Information systems (PGIS) to map bicycle couriers' spatial preferences in their working environment; semi-structured interviews to approach mobile decision making; and (auto)ethnographic data to consider the embodiment of movement across both case studies. This article provides an updated empirical understanding of couriers' mobile, urban geography compared with pre-platform messenger work, while examining the role of new organizational technologies on movement using a Lefebvrian spatial framework, emphasizing the gaps between spaces as exploitable by different actors in the delivery work sphere. The results show both a new, extended spatiality of bicycle-based work enabled by associated technologies, alongside both the loss and adoption of new means of appropriating urban and digital spaces resulting from algorithmic control of the delivery process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The momentum of COVID-19 should be an opportunity for courier business owners because many people focus on their activities at home and rely on courier services to shop. Two big players such as JNE and JnT have shown an increase in transaction volume in 2020 and 2021. On the other hand, Pos Indonesia has experienced a 15% decrease in profit from usual. This phenomenon is also reflected in the scale of Postal Agents, one of the official partners of Pos Indonesia. Referring to data from the Central Post Office in Sidoarjo, the income of all Postal Agents in Sidoarjo decreased by around 15% during the pandemic, starting in 2020 Rp. 11.3 billion to Rp. 9.6 billion in 2021. This research was conducted to investigate the influence of aspects of external and internal factors on the performance of Postal Agents. All research data comes from questionnaires filled out by 30 respondents who are managers of Postal Agents in Sidoarjo. Then the data was analyzed using the SEM-PLS (Structural Equation Modeling Partial Least Square) method. The results showed that internal factors had a positive influence on the performance of Postal Agents with a T-statistic of 3.115 and a P-value of 0.002 (<0.05). From these internal factors, it is known that finance and service products are the most influential aspects. Meanwhile, external factors did not have a positive influence on the performance of Postal Agents with a T-statistic of 0.123 and a P-value of 0.902 (> 0.05). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of globalization, express courier services become essential for streamlining cross-border trade. Among the main players facilitating these processes is UPS, a giant of the courier industry, whose strategies, and services play an important role in connecting the Romanian business environment with markets in the rest of Europe. The study's findings underscore UPS's strategic importance not only as a logistics service provider, but also as an essential partner for Romania's sustainable economic development through more efficient integration into European supply chains. E-commerce has experienced a significant expansion in Romania, and courier services are essential for the efficient operation of this sector. The speed and reliability of deliveries help meet consumer expectations and build trust in online shopping. The paper makes a valuable contribution to existing literature by focusing on a specific case study, offering new perspectives on the role played by courier companies in regional economic dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In the literature review, it was determined that logistics performance was neglected, compared to supply chain performance within the scope of organizational performance. The main purpose of this study is to examine the effect of transformational leadership in the courier services industry on logistics performance and the moderating effect of employee productivity in this relationship. Methods: To test the hypothesis, an online survey was conducted on a sample of 347 respondents from the Turkish courier industry. Research data of this cross-sectional study was obtained from participants working as moto-couriers in a digital marketing company over a 2-week period. The data obtained was analyzed using SPSS-27 and AMOS-22 programs. In the analyses, descriptive analyses were performed first, and then the validity and reliability of the scales were tested. Correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between variables, and PROCESS Macro, developed as an SPSS plug-in, was used to test the research hypotheses. Hypothesis testing was conducted with 5000 resamples and a 95% confidence interval. Results: The results show that transformational leadership has a positive and significant effect on logistics performance, and employee productivity has a moderating effect on this relationship. Conclusion: This is one of the few studies that considers the role of transformational leadership in the courier service industry from the perspective of logistics performance rather than supply chain performance. The findings could offer a detailed understanding of how employee productivity affects the relationship between transformational leadership and logistics performance in the courier service that shows how the transformational leader positively affects the productivity of employees and indirectly affects their performance. The results of this study have important managerial implications for business managers in the courier service industry to improve organizational performance through logistics performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses a real‐world multi‐period orienteering problem arising in a large Italian company that needs to patrol an area in order to provide security services to a set of customers. Each customer requires different services on a weekly basis. Some services are mandatory, while others are optional. It might be impossible to perform all optional services, and each of them is assigned a score when performed. The challenge is to determine a set of routes, one per day, that maximizes a weighted sum of the total collected score and total working time, while meeting several operational constraints, including hard time windows, maximum riding time, minimum number of services performed, and minimum time between two consecutive visits for the same service at the same customer. To solve the problem, we propose an iterated local search that invokes at each iteration an inner variable neighborhood descent procedure. Computational tests performed on a large number of real‐world instances prove that the developed algorithm is very efficient, and finds in a short time solutions that are consistently better than those produced by a mathematical model, and those in use at the company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The dynamics of e-commerce, combined with the growing number of users and the increasing volume of last-mile consignments, are driving current developments in logistics. As online commerce continues to grow, so does the need for active service providers to deliver courier, express, and parcel (CEP) shipments on time. Autonomous last-mile delivery is said to have the potential to transform the way we receive goods. As these autonomous delivery technologies continue to develop and become more widespread, it is possible to foresee a future where autonomous delivery vehicles seamlessly navigate our roads and sidewalks, bringing our online orders to our doorsteps faster and more efficiently than ever. After a general classification of sidewalk autonomous delivery robots (SADRs), this paper examines how far the development and implementation of these vehicles have progressed and which developments offer the greatest opportunities for ecological and economic use in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Insights into the current practice of direct‐to‐participant (DtP) supply of investigational medicinal product (IMP) in the context of clinical trials conducted in Europe are needed, as regulations are unharmonized. This study is set out to explore how DtP IMP supply has been employed in Europe and what the advantages and disadvantages and barriers and facilitators of its implementation are. Methods: We conducted semi‐structured interviews with representatives from sponsor companies, courier services and site study staff involved in the IMP dispensing and delivery process in Europe. Interviews were conducted between May and November 2021, and data were analysed following thematic analysis. Results: Sixteen respondents participated in one of the 12 interviews. Respondents had experience with different models of DtP IMP supply including shipment from the investigative site, a central pharmacy (a depot under the control of a pharmacist) and a local pharmacy—aiming to reduce trial participation burden. The respondents indicated that investigative site‐to‐participant shipment is not affected by regulatory barriers, but could burden site staff. Shipment from central locations was considered most efficient, but possible regulatory barriers related to maintaining participants' privacy and investigator oversight were identified. The respondents indicated that the involvement of local pharmacies to dispense IMP can be considered when the IMP is authorized. Conclusions: Several DtP IMP supply models are implemented in clinical trials conducted in Europe. In this study, three main DtP IMP models were identified, which can be referenced when describing these approaches for regulatory approval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Logistics and distribution is a vital link to guarantee the stable supply of the e-commerce market and the healthy development of the industry. With the constant growth of the e-commerce, the efficiency and service quality of logistics and distribution have been paid more and more attention to. Therefore, the study firstly Considering distribution fixed cost, transportation penalty cost and carbon emission cost, the vehicle routing optimization model is transformed into the lowest transportation cost model, then uses an improved traditional artificial fish swarm algorithm to find the optimum way for this model, and finally verifies its performance and applicability through experiments. The performance test results show that the algorithm finds the optimal solution 3589 and 3590 in 63 and 78 iterations in the Oxford Robot Car dataset and Apollo Scape dataset, respectively; the average running time of the algorithm is 11.864s and 11.967s in the 10 operation time tests; in the operation function test, the algorithm. The algorithm was able to overcome the local optimal solution problem. The applicability simulation shows that this algorithm stabilizes after 53 iterations, the minimum cost of the optimal solution of the model is $41,224, and the total distance of distribution is 9035 km. The research algorithm is fast in finding the optimal value, which is close to it, indicating that the algorithm is highly efficient and reliable, and can greatly optimize the path of e-commerce logistics delivery vehicles, and give a theoretical foundation for the optimization of logistics delivery paths in other industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ongoing growth of e‐commerce deliveries has led to a significant increase in last‐mile delivery volumes. New technologies are being investigated to provide these deliveries efficiently and in a customer‐friendly manner. A common practice is to use fixed parcel lockers (FPLs) to make deliveries independent from the presence of the customer as is the case in attended home deliveries (AHDs). FPLs are usually installed at key locations in cities, and customers can collect their package at any time once it has been delivered to this particular location. Mobile parcel lockers (MPLs) represent a new idea: they can be parked for temporary collection of items at different locations, keeping the pickup distance to the customer short and avoiding high infrastructure costs. However, customers need to collect their parcels within a restricted time window. This service is supposed to become especially efficient through autonomously operating vehicles that can move MPLs at low costs. In this article, we introduce the heterogeneous locker location problem to study the effects of fleets combining two of the services—FPLs, MPLs, AHDs—within one framework. In our comparison, we consider that customers may have different expectations regarding their maximum pickup distance as well as their temporal flexibility in accepting deliveries. A fixed fleet is applied to maximize the number of customers served, respecting individual customer preferences in terms of pickup distances and time windows. We evaluate the different delivery services regarding managerial insights on service quality and efficiency. In the experiments, we analyze the impact of structural demand differences and different fleet sizes, as well as the operational fleet utilization and the individual customer experience. Results show the potential to increase the number of customers served by about 14%–19% through the use of MPLs while considering individual customer preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies an interval data min–max regret (IDMR) version of the packing-delivery problem, in which a 0-1 knapsack problem is for parcel packing and a capacitated travelling salesman problem is for parcel delivery. The parcel profits for the courier and the tour costs are uncertain and they can take any value from a specific interval with lower and upper bound values. The problem is how to select and deliver a subset of parcels to minimise the maximum regret of net profit which is the difference between the total profits of the selected parcels and the total delivery costs, to deal with the trade-off of the solution robustness and performance. To tackle the problem effectively, we first prove the worst-case scenario of a solution to the problem, based on which, a mixed integer linear programming is formulated. A Benders-like decomposition algorithm is then developed to solve small-scale problems to optimality within the manageable computation time. For medium- and large-scale problems, a simulated-annealing-based heuristic method with a local search procedure is designed. Extensive computational experiments show the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]